


and they’s beggin’ you to stay

by Emperor_Quarter



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining, Post-Canon, imagine them 92sies but with broadway plot, it’s back to school time, jack is an idiot and we love him, screw characterization we don’t do that here, sorta love confessions?, this is really sad man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25759840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emperor_Quarter/pseuds/Emperor_Quarter
Summary: It’s the last day of summer, and Jack doesn’t know what to do. A few more hours, and Les and Davey would be gone. Shipped of to some school that the teaches boring history and old languages and things nobody needs to know.The time slipped through his fingers, and now it seems only to be speeding up.But there’s a noise on the ladder, and Davey is standing on the rooftop with him.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	and they’s beggin’ you to stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artanogon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artanogon/gifts).



> This is for Val you beautiful angel for making me cry at 11pm. It’s time for payback. 
> 
> Ily and hope you like it 💚💚💚

It was the last night of Summer. 

The air was getting slightly cooler, more people were bustling outside. They hurried about, darting from place to place as they tried to make it home quickly to their families. Parents pulled their children along, some of them dirtied and tired from working, others pristine and excited. Carriages added to the noise, horses trotting and snorting as the wheels cracked against the cobblestone, the wealthy trying their best to avoid the common people.  
  
Jack watched them from above, soaking up every scene as best he could to hold and keep it in his memory. His hand was cramped up, but later he figured he’d draw the scenes of the city, on nice real paper instead of old papes. It was much firmer than the papes, and left less room for poking holes through the material or awkwardly fitting it over the words and pictures. 

The sun was setting, and Jack decided that he would save up on some paints, or some oils of his own. It was a beautiful sight, reds and purple and blues all mixed together, contrasting against the bright yellow-orange of the sun and the surrounding sky. It was still high enough not to set for a little while longer, but the days were starting to get shorter, Jack getting to leave from work earlier and earlier.

There’s a clambering on the ladder, and Jack looks down, expecting to see Crutchie finished with his rounds. However, he tells immediately that it’s Davey. Jack opens the gate, pulling him up with a grin. Davey brushes his hands on his pants, closing the gate and staring at Jack.

“Hey,” he says. He’s trying to smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. They’re watery, and the rims of his eyes are red like he had been crying. Jack probably looks the same way.

“Hey,” he replies, shoving his hands in his pants. The silence drags on for minutes, the two of them stuck staring at each other, trying to form words.

Jack wants to reach out, to try and voice his thoughts. It’s so unfair, as the seconds pass and he’s closer and closer to losing Les, to losing _Davey_. There’s less chances of ever seeing them again, they dress up in their uniforms and sit in classrooms while Jack looses part of his family. He can’t imagine life without them. 

He only spent months with them, but the thought of them leaving tears him apart. He told himself to let go of attachments in his final years before he stopped being a newsie, to not make new ones as he packed his bags and already had to make a hard goodbye.

But Davey fought his way in, going from the stubborn kid that wanted his promised papes to the eloquent speaker that could make crowds applause. He grew so much in less than two months. And now he was leaving. He was leaving, and never coming back, and Jack didn’t know how to feel. He was used to people leaving, mostly the older kids going on their own journies to become adults. On few times, younger kids who left and never came back or died from an illness. It was always hard. But this one he could stop, he could try to prevent, even though he knew there was no way he would win that battle.

His father’s arm was completely healed, his mother had gotten a promotion in the factory, they would be fine now, not needing to go out onto the streets for a long time. Jack knows that he’ll still see Davey, still see him passing in the crowd and maybe on visits. But this was only temporary. They’ll grow apart, finding families and settling down and forgetting about the strike, forgetting about the movement that caused newsies’ life’s to change forever. 

Jack stares into Davey’s eyes, a deep brown that entrances him, filled with sadness as they slowly let tears fall. They fall down his cheeks, glimmering in the last traces of the sunlight as they travel towards the tip of his chin. They drip onto his pants making marks, but Davey does nothing to stop them. They grow in numbers, more and more tears, faster and faster. The more Davey cries, the harder it is for Jack to hold his back, rubbing frantically at his irritated eyes to foolishly try to avoid the inevitable. 

Finally, he reaches out to Davey, just catching one before it can make its journey. Davey’s eyes flicker to the hand, and Jack pulls back with a bitter smile. The tears build up in Jack’s eyes, and one almost makes it’s way down before he wipes it away.

Davey notices, however, and takes Jack’s wrist, slowly, surely, as he breaks the silence. 

“I won’t leave you,” he says, and it’s so soft it just carries on the wind for Jack to hear. It’s a promise, one that seems a promise to Davey himself as well. It’s imbued with determination, and for a minute Jack almost believes that it is true. 

But he smiles instead, tugging his hand free as he sits down, blinking back tears. Davey sits next to him, pulling his knees up to his chest. He’s crying. Jack doesn’t think he’s ever seen Davey this vulnerable, but the same could be said for himself. 

“Our school’s in the other direction,” Davey admits, “I don’t think we’ll pass by this part.”

Jack stares beyond the railing, watching the sun set. “I see,” he says, in a calculated tone. He dangles his feet off the side, kicking them back and forth as he contemplates.

Davey rubs the back of his neck. “Though we can go this route to get groceries, and Katherine’s been talking into me maybe getting a writing job when I finish school. She says I speak well, and could try that on paper. I think she’s messing with me.”

“Just because ya fancy words don’t make sense to us, don’t mean they won’t make sense to others,” Jack counters, and Davey looks down.

“I s’pouse so,” he agrees, and Jack laughs a bit. “Maybe I’ll work for the world, just a few floors above you.”

Jack punches him lightly in the shoulder. “Sounds great!” he replies, smile reaching across his cheeks. 

Davey nods, before searching his eyes and realizing Jack doesn’t quite believe it. “I’m serious, I’ll give it a lot of thought. I’m not abandoning you, I swear it,” he says, and it’s so determined, so truthful, that Jack cracks.

Then, where a single crack forms, all of the dam comes flooding. Jack starts crying. “Damnit, Davey, I don’t want ya ta go,” he says, turning and gripping the sleeves of Davey’s vest. Davey pulls him in, wrapping his arms around him and tucking his chin over the other’s head. “I was always so ready when everyone older left, I had years of time. But now I don’t got any, I got hours and it’s going too fast and I can’t—” he breaks off.

“Shh,” Davey says, “we still have time. My folks aren’t expecting me back for awhile, we still have time.”

Jack steadies himself, trying to breathe, letting go of his death grip. Davey coaxes him to look up. Slowly, Jack rubs at his eyes and pulls on the strings of his hat, looking anywhere but at Davey. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles, “that was dumb of me.” 

“Well you’re not running away so it’s significantly less dumber,” Davey comments, and Jack eyes him, warning him with all the power he can muster. 

Davey relaxes, closing his eyes and leaning on Jack’s shoulder. Jack tenses up, eyes darting around before relaxing. He lifts an arm around Davey’s shoulder. It’s quiet for a long time again. The sun dips under the horizon and they watch as the few stars in New York peek out

“I’m gonna miss ya,” Jack finally admits, and Davey opens an eye, turning slightly to face him. “It’s been only a few months, but I can’t see ya go,” he says.

Davey sighs, removing his head. “I know,” he says, giving a sad smile as they stare at each other. Jack can just see Davey’s outline from the stars, the moon just awakening as it peaks over the horizon. He stares at every inch of Davey he can, trying to imprint this memory for as long as possible. 

“Hey,” Davey says, and suddenly grabs his chin. He moves his hand up to Jack’s cheek, watching him for any sign to remove it. Jack leans into the touch, eyes trained on Davey as the other strokes his cheek. “I’ll do my best to visit, okay? I promise.”

“Ya, okay,” Jack replies, raising his hand to place it over Davey’s. 

They sit like that, for a minute, for two, frozen and watching each other. This is it, this is the line. They can take it back now, and nothing will have ever happen, Davey can turn around and leave and no one would be the wiser. It’s the safest option, the logical option, just turn away and don’t get caught up in it.

But Jack is a reckless idiot, so he leans forward and gently kisses Davey’s lips. 

There’s always talk from the newsies of their kisses, feeling like flames and ice cream and warm and tender. Jack doesn’t feel those, but Davey’s lips are soft and nice against his chapped ones. It’s a nice feeling, so he does it again, just as lightly and carefully so they don’t get too caught up in each other and someone finds them. It’s enough, not want Jack wants, but it’s enough.

Davey’s eyes flutter shut afterward, face a little red and flushed. Jack watches him, unsure what to do, as Davey slowly opens his eyes with a grin. 

“I’m glad you knew what you were doing because I sure as hell didn’t,” he says, and Jack looks mortified for a second. He tried to piece it together, staring at Davey with his mouth open like a fish.

“Youse telling me ya seventeen and ya never kissed anyone?” he asks, and Davey laughs.

“I’m not from the streets, Jack, if my folks found out I’d be kissing someone before I married them, they’d keel over and die in shock and shame,” he replies, eyebrow raised.

Jack’s mouth makes an o shape, and Davey grips his hand. “It’s fine, Jack, I ain’t marrying you, and my folks don’t have to know.”

Jack leans back, sighing and relaxing. “It don’t have to mean nothing,” he says, and Davey stares at him. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve kissed all the older newsies at this point.”

Immediately, Davey’s eyebrows shoot sky-high. “ _Really_?” he says in disbelief, and Jack gives him a smug grin. 

“What can I say? I’m a reckless idiot,” he teases, putting his hands behind his head as he leans against the guardrail.

Davey sighs, shaking his head. “You definitely are,” he says with a laugh.

The two quiet down for a minute, as Davey taps on his leg, thinking as he glances at Jack. Jack watches him, anxiously picking at the hem of his bandana. He doesn’t know what Davey is thinking, and it’s driving him up a wall. At this point he can rule out completely disgusted, but he wonders if Davey will call this off. As he said, he’s not from the streets like the rest of them. He has folks, who expect him to marry a nice lady and settle down with her and have kids. There’s no way Jack will fit in that life, so maybe it’s best if Davey calls it off for good. 

But instead, Davey gives Jack a soft smile. “Now I have an extra reason to come back,” he says, and Jack beams. Davey pauses, cupping Jack’s cheek for a second before getting up. “My folks are expecting me,” he tells Jack, turning and opening the gate. 

Jack puts a hand on the metal, staring at Davey’s dark brown eyes. “See you soon, then?” he asks, hopefully. 

Davey grins at him, pulling him in for one last kiss before climbing down the railing. 

And in three day’s time, Jack watches as Davey makes it down the market street, going up to wrap an arm around his shoulder as the two laugh and talk.


End file.
